Shirkers
by Kate Marley
Summary: In November 1933, Austria goes to Munich by train in order to pay his brother Bavaria a short visit.


When Austria arrived at Munich's main station, a rather chilly east wind hit him in the face. He turned up his coat collar and lifted his suitcase. Then, he stepped off the train and onto the platform.

"Little brother!", a familiar voice shouted at the end of the platform, and Bavaria started to weave his arms frantically. "Over there!"

Austria pretended not to hear anything. _I don't know this person,_ he told himself sternly.

"Roderich! It's me!", Bavaria cried and started to dart towards him. Austria sighed—which turned out to be a rather stupid idea when Bavaria threw himself at him and embraced him in a way that knocked the breath out of his lungs.

"Ugh! Theodor, I can't exactly prize the way you treat weary travellers", Austria said, voice somewhat muffled by Bavaria's jacket. He tried to put some distance between his elder brother and himself, albeit to little avail: Theodor ignored him; he only tightened his embrace. Austria felt a bone in his spine crack, testimony to his lack of sportive activities as of late.

"Oh, it's so good to see my baby brother again!", Bavaria cooed and all but spun Austria around. This was the precise moment when Austria decided that enough was enough. He shoved Bavaria away.

"Yes, it's good to see you again, too, Bavaria, but I would greatly appreciate it if you didn't hug me in the same way Italy hugs his kittens", Austria said pungently. "Why did I even _think_ you were affected by the law that dissolved your diet?"

"Perhaps because you were affected by the one _your_ politicians made?", Bavaria asked innocently. "That's why I was rather worried when you wrote about those laws in your letter to me and announced your visit." Austria frowned. Now, _that_ explained Bavaria's sudden cuddly behaviour; at least part of it.

"I'm fine", he reassured his brother, "but I rather doubt my politicians have the intention to dissolve me as a whole. I'm not so sure about the attitude of Germany's new leaders towards his free states."

Bavaria waved the possibility away with a smirk. "Ah, we'll see about that", he said. "I don't think it'll come to the utmost." Austria noticed a small tremor in his tone. His brother didn't really believe in what he was saying, but he clearly didn't want to talk about it either, so Austria decided not to press matters. He simply gave a small, appreciative nod when Bavaria picked up his suitcase.

* * *

"So what can you tell me about this boycott of Jewish businesses in April?", Austria asked when Bavaria and him walked past Stachus.

"Ah, well, actually, there's not much to say", Bavaria said. "There were stormtroopers standing in front of Jewish shops, but most people just didn't care and bought there nonetheless. Saxony, who went grocery shopping that Saturday, even thought it was an April fool hoax, because they decided to do that boycott on April 1st, of all possible days. The owner of his local greengrocer's happens to be a Jew, so Saxony had to shove his way past some stormtroopers in order to enter the shop. When he went out again, one of the stormtroopers tried to affix a stamp on his forehead, so he ducked and held his shopping bag in front of him." Bavaria giggled. "Saxony now has an apple stamped _We traitors bought from Jews."_

"This isn't funny", Austria scolded him.

"The traitorous apple?" Bavaria smirked. "I think it's hilarious!"

"No, not the apple, you fool, the boycott!", Austria said in a worried tone. "They were _testing the mood._ I hope there were at least some people who spoke out against that measure; otherwise, things like that will become frequent, I fear."

"There weren't", Bavaria said, suddenly very quiet. "I also know of some acts of violence against Jewish people and property on that day."

Austria sighed. "That is bad."

They walked along in silence. Bavaria didn't even complain about carrying Austria's rather heavy suitcase all the way from the main station. As always, Austria wanted to walk past Odeonsplatz to greet the statue of Bavaria's famous commander during the Thirty Years' War, Johann t'Serclaes, Count of Tilly, when Bavaria suddenly took his arm quite firmly and steered him to the left.

"Don't go there", Bavaria said. "Be a sensible country _this once_ and accompany me to _Drückebergergasse."_

"What? Shirker's Alley?", Austria asked in consternation. There was a sign on one of the houses that clearly read _Viscardigasse._

"Yes, Shirker's Alley. We, the people of Munich, started to call it like that because it's the easiest way to avoid prostrating our right arms to the silly honour guards who stand in front of _Feldherrnhalle_ all day to commemorate the ridiculous disaster that was the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923."

* * *

 **Notes:**

The law that dissolved Bavaria's diet is the "Preliminary Law for Synchronization of the States with the Reich" ( _Vorläufiges Gesetz zur Gleichschaltung der Länder mit dem Reich,_ 31 March 1933). Austria's National Council _(Nationalrat)_ was disempowered roughly during the same period of time, i.e. mid-March 1933, by the clerico-fascist Fatherland Front _(Vaterländische Front)_. The "Law for the Reconstruction of the Reich" ( _Gesetz über den Neuaufbau des Reiches_ , 30 January 1934) then de-federalized Germany during the Third Reich period, so Austria's worries are rather justified in the winter of 1933.

 **Stachus** is a square in central Munich. Its actual name is _Karlsplatz,_ after Charles Theodore (1724-1799, Count palatine since 1742, Duke of Bavaria since 1777), who was very unpopular in Bavaria because he wanted to trade the duchy for the Austrian Netherlands. Stachus is quite close to the main station.

A first **boycott of Jewish businesses** took place on Saturday, 1 April 1933. It was indeed largely unsuccessful, but no major authorities (such as bishops, for example) spoke up against it either.

Johann t'Serclaes, Count of **Tilly** (1559-1632) was commander of the Catholic League (a confederation of Roman Catholic German countries led by Bavaria) during the Thirty Years' War (1618-48). Tilly's family was actually from the Duchy of Brabant, then a part of the Spanish Netherlands—it's an in-joke that Bavaria's most famous commander wasn't even Bavarian. There is a statue of Tilly in front of the _Feldherrnhalle_ (Field Marshall's Hall) on Odeonsplatz in Munich, which was also the site of the brief battle that ended Hitler's failed coup of 1923, the Beer Hall Putsch. From 8 November 1933 on, there was a site of commemoration for the 16 stormtroopers who died during the attempted coup on Odeonsplatz. If you didn't want to render a Hitler salute when passing that site, you could avoid it by turning left onto _Viscardigasse_. That's why this alley, named after Swiss Baroque architect Giovanni Antonio Viscardi (1645-1713), became popularly known as _Drückebergergasse_ (Shirker's Alley).


End file.
